Just Share It
How then shall they call on Him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in Him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher?
--Romans 10:14
There are critics of mass evangelism, or crusade evangelism, who say it is not effective. They say it is much better to share the gospel one-on-one, because trying to gather them in large stadiums is really not an effective way to reach people.
I would have to disagree. First of all, we find two forms of evangelism in the Book of Acts. We see what we might term as mass evangelism at work, and we also see examples of personal evangelism.
Second, we have found that 85 percent of the people who come forward at a Harvest Crusades event were brought by a friend. So essentially, one-on-one evangelism--that is, personal evangelism--was coupled with large-scale evangelism.
Therefore, a Harvest Crusades event can be a catalyst for a believer to utilize in his or her evangelistic efforts. After all, there are a lot of unbelievers who won't go to church when Christians invite them. Something about the idea of going to church intimidates them.
But when you invite them to a stadium, however, they are more likely to go with you. Of course, a Harvest Crusades event is church too. In fact, it's a larger church than they would go to with their Christian friends. But whatever the motive an unbeliever may have for coming to a Harvest Crusades event, they will hear the gospel.
God can use both large-scale evangelism and personal evangelism to get the gospel out. Both are important.
It's vital that we share our faith one-on-one with people. But it's also important that we throw out the seeds of the gospel to as many people as we can.
